Fireworks around Lake Ontario

No, it’s not an asteroid plummeting from the heavens, but our first attempt at time-lapse photography during the Canada Day fireworks display visible from Jordan Harbour.

The cool thing about fireworks this Canada Day was that we could see them near our marina, at Port Dalhousie, at Ashbridge’s Bay across Lake Ontario and over Burlington. Had we stayed up a bit longer we’re certain we would have seen the fireworks at Ontario Place, too.

We had an excellent Canada Day, with lunch at On the Twenty in Jordan and a tour at the adjacent Cave Spring Cellars, the first winery in Canada to operate a restaurant on the premises. Today, name a winery in Niagara, Prince Edward County or the Okanagan that doesn’t operate a restaurant.

Getting the five miles to Jordan and back was a challenge as hiring a taxi isn’t as easy as the cruising guides make it out to be. It takes close to a half hour to get a a taxi from St. Catharines and then they want a $20 surcharge. Fortunately, our driver was a rookie and did not know enough to charge the extra $20, so the fare, with tip, from marina to Jordan, was only $13.

For the trip back from Jordan, we tried calling a cab from Lincoln Limo & Cab in nearby Grimsby. They made us wait 45 minutes and then wanted a flat fee of $25 for the trip back. Fortunately, we are able to negotiate a $15 rate with the dispatcher which we gladly augmented with a $5 tip for Ed, our driver, who was a friendly guy with lots of recommendations for eateries at our next harbour. In fact, he’s a friend of the owner at Mustang’s Big Ol’ Grill, a roadhouse we had been thinking of trying when we're in Stoney Creek. Ed assured us that the ribs at Mustang’s were of the fall-off-the-bone variety.

A side note to foodies: The Anna Olson of Food Network fame whose baked goods we sampled in Port Dalhousie was pastry chef at On the Twenty in Jordan for seven years. It’s there she met her husband, Michael, who was the founding chef of the restaurant. Anna is originally from Georgia but grew up in Toronto. She and Michael have co-authored several cookbooks and this summer are expanding their Foods & Bakery operation to St. Davids near Niagara Falls.

In Jordan Harbour, we took on 153 litres of fuel at $1.46 for a total of $228.28. In the world of the $150 barrel of oil, powerboating isn’t cheap. For our American friends, that translates to 40.4 gallons at $5.54. That’s Harbourmaster Marsha in the photo with the Admiral.

Again we ask the question, why do cruising sailors insist on taking photograph after photograph of sunsets?